Your ideas are hugely valuable.

--S.B., Orinda, CA, novelist

“The endeavor of writing can be long and lonely. Mary Carroll Moore, master writing instructor, to the rescue! Moore packs How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book with years of gritty good sense and big-picture perspective. Her techniques for drafting, organizing, and polishing a book are practical and time-tested. Here is a first-time book-writer’s best companion.”

--Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew,author of Writing the Sacred Journey: The Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir

If I could implement all I've learned from you, I'd have a best-seller!

Pretend you’re a reporter for the New York Times. You’re going to interview your book idea.

List some questions you’d love to ask your book about its form, content, goals. You can start with something nonthreatening, as you would if you were a real reporter.

Ask your book some very good questions. Some ideas from my class are below, or you can make up your own:

What do you want to tell me about yourself?What form suits you best?Who is your readership and how will theyaccess you?What are you most eager to say?What are you most afraid to say?What genre are you?

When it runs out of things to say (or you getnervous about the answers) ask a different question.

The goal of this book-writing exercise is to surprise yourself. You’ll tap the hidden parts of yourself as a writer, the parts we often censor. You can strike gold--if you maintain the attitude of no-assumptions and anything can happen.

Books for the Blocked--These'll Get You Moving Again!

Escaping into the Open by Elizabeth Berg

Listen to Me by Lynn Lauber

Marry Your Muse by Jan Phillips

Pencil Dancing by Mari Messer

The Art of Slow Writing by Louise DeSalvo

Thinking about Memoir by Abigail Thomas

Write Your Heart Out by Rebecca McClanahan

A person’s life purpose is nothing more than to rediscover, through the detours of art, or love, or passionate work, those one or two images in the presence of which his heart first opened.Albert Camus

Sunday, February 5, 2012

I first met Patti Dobrowolski at a seminar on the East Coast, at a time when I was trying to manifest a new goal with my writing--finish and get my book on writing, Your Book Starts Here, published at last. I knew I was stuck. I felt overwhelmed by the need for a good editor and a bigger vision for the book.

I had lots of chapters, but I knew they weren't especially good.

Patti is a fireball on stage. She loves what she does, which is mostly about drawing or visually mapping the goal-setting process. She handed out copies of a simple goal-setting worksheet made up of three parts: (1) a place to describe the vision of how you'd be or feel when your goal was realized, (2) any obstacles that stood between you and your goal, and (3) three bold steps to take.

Patti is the founder of Up Your Creative Genius, a consulting firm that uses visuals and creative processes to help companies and individuals around the world accelerate growth and change. A critically acclaimed comic performer, internationally recognized keynote speaker, writer and business consultant. She talked about how she'd imagined getting into a Broadway show in New York, and how she used this goal-setting method to imagine it. Of course, it came true. Since then, Patti has brought her innovative visual practices to NGOs, Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and individuals around the world.

So, in that seminar, I wrote down my vision for my book project. I imagined finding a wonderful editor who would help me take it the final steps to publication. I saw it being the basis for my classes, and I wrote down how it would benefit all the writers who would use it.

Three Bold Steps
The last aspect--three bold steps--intrigued me the most. I thought about this seriously. What would be my wildest dream? First, to find a fabulous editor who believed in my book and would be able to help me take the final steps in shaping it. I knew such an editor in New York, but she was pretty busy. I took a deep breath and wrote as one of my bold steps to email her and ask. She might think I was insane but it really wouldn't hurt.

The second bold step was to take the plunge and get my website revamped. It was old and tired, and I knew just the right person to help with that. But what I had in mind would cost thousands. Was I really able to justify the cost right now? Would it make that much difference? I imagined the book being published, people visiting the site, and decided yes.

The third bold step was about my book cover. I wanted something really great. I also wanted the interior to look amazing, with some graphics and a clean feel and wide margins for taking notes. So I wrote down: Find a designer and typesetter whose work I love.

After the seminar, even though I was reinvigorated by Patti's unique method, I put the chart away as life went on. Daily demands took me away from my book ideas and it wasn't until a month later that I remembered Patti's chart and what I had promised myself. I found it and looked over my three bold steps. They still seemed incredibly scary to me, but I knew they were what I wanted. I started taking action.

Miracles Happened! This Method Works!
The editor, to my drop-dead astonishment, said yes. She and I began working together and within months the manuscript took shape, becoming something so much better than I could've imagined. With the enthusiasm of that success behind me, I contacted the website designer and forked over the money to start working with her. When she sent me the template for her redesign I was astonished again--a huge step up. Amazingly, she also did book design work and I talked with her about a possible cover. Again, the results were better than I had imagined. The best typesetter in the world was also easy to find.

Was this magic? Or just good visioning, with the help of Patti Dobrowolski's wonderful template? Had she really allowed me to tap into my creativity--my creative genius--in some new way, which allowed these miracles to happen?

I'm a great believer in good visioning. And a firm supporter of Patti's way of doing it.

Her new book is just out, which gives all the details of how to do this visioning for yourself. It's called Drawing Solutions and it's wonderful. She's doing a book give-away contest the week of February 12 and click here to enter the contest.

Questions for Patti
I asked Patti to answer some questions about her process and how she discovered it, then wrote her book. Here's our conversation:

When did you first know you wanted to write a book?

In 1995, I began experimenting with using visuals to goal set and develop the Snapshot of the Big Picture process. I realized how simple it was for me to make change when I had a visual to help inspire me, and be a road map for the success. It was at this point that I thought, I should really write a book about this.

How long did this book take to write, from first written word to publication?

I started writing the book at a workshop lead by a writer's coach, Tom Bird. I remember sitting next to a woman at a conference and she was the speaker and her book had just come out. I asked her how long it took and she said, "Five years." I thought to myself, I just finished my first draft, it will never be five years, maybe 1-1/2 at best. How long did it take me? Exactly five years!

Who do you imagine is your ideal reader for this book?

The ideal reader is someone who has a dream but isn't sure quite how to get it started. It may be as simple as writing your first book, or creating that change that keeps you up at night, that you fantasize about. That is the perfect reader, because this book helps to motivate you and get you doing by helping you see that by using a visual and lining up your brain to start working for you, you too can make that dream a reality.

What are some of the funny/tragic/inspiring experiences you had during the book-writing journey?

Tragic: the typos that were found after I had two copy editors review the materials! Funny: how easy it was to get derailed in the process. Anything became an excuse not to edit! Here's a synchronistic thing: Early on when I sent out query letters to get an agent, and one of the agencies that approached me gave me some really solid advice: The agent said, "Look at other people's websites: you have to have a slick video, a cool platform, a unique differentiator." He then offered to coach me for about $10,000. I declined, of course, thinking I could get that stuff together on my own (which I did).

Recently I got a referral from a friend to do a private coaching session for a woman in transition (this is a two-hour session I do in person or on Skype and I draw a big map for them real time) That woman was the former business partner of that agent. She had left the agency and was going out on her own.

What's some advice you might give a new writer who is interested in putting together a book?

Discipline is critical! In my case, what I learned from Tom was to get up every day and write for two hours or a certain number of words, without going back and editing.

Also, I went all the way through just writing the book before I came back and edited it. I wrote longhand and when I went to transcribe it into the computer, that was my first edit.

What's your experience with publishing these days and why did you decide to publish the way you did?

While I did land an agent, he couldn't ever figure out how to get a publisher interested in my book. So I decided to do POD (print on demand self-publishing), which Tom Bird outlines in his writing.

I think, for me, this was absolutely the best choice. I am still learning about it, but all that money that would have gone to a publisher goes directly into my pocket and that is very satisfying. It does go right back out the door, however, for advertising, etc. But I think it is worth it.

What would you never do again, in terms of book writing or publishing?

Probably never work with an editor I didn't know. I spent a huge amount of money getting a "writing coach" and a New York editor who was recommended by a friend of a friend. While I was happy to have them, I see now that they took me down a path that diverged from me developing my own voice, and I eventually scrapped what they had me write and went back to my original idea.

Anything else you want to share?

While writing a book is an enormous amount of work, there is nothing quite as satisfying as finishing it. It feels like a huge mountain, but once you are on the top, you see the whole range of mountains there are and yet each of those next peaks do not feel quite as daunting as this one.

Your Weekly Writing Exercise
The weekly writing exercise is to check out Patti's book! You may have some miracles appear in your life because of it, as happened to me.

Imagine your personal three bold steps, and see what it might take to bring your book into manifestation.

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Upcoming Writing Classes with Mary

In-person Workshopsat the Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis

Thursday, March 29, 12:00-5:00Afternoon Characters IntensiveThis afternoon class will let you audition the most compelling cast for your fiction or memoir, then free them from any conscious or unconscious paralysis (safe, stuck places), via in-class exercises, craft lessons, and sample reading. We'll explore key character-building skills such as longing and desire, external and internal motivation, physical appearance, community, values, secrets, backstory, gestures, and more. You'll begin to write characters who will last in your reader's memory and attract publishers. For memoir or fiction writers at any stage. $87.50. Click here for details or to register.

Friday, March 30, 10:30-4:30Your Book Starts Here: Learn to Storyboard Your Book!A one-day workshop to learn a simple template that many professional writers use to build a strong structure of a novel, memoir, or nonfiction book via storyboard brainstorming. Great for all stages, from writers just starting a book project to those with a work-in-progress. $105. Click here for details or to register.

In-person Workshopsat Grub Street, Boston

Saturday, April 21, 10:00-5:00Your Book Starts Here: Learn to Storyboard Your Book!A one-day workshop to learn a simple template that many professional writers use to build a strong structure of a novel, memoir, or nonfiction book via storyboard brainstorming. Great for all stages, from writers just starting a book project to those with a work-in-progress. $130. Click here for details or to register.Writing RetreatsYour Book Starts Here: Week-long Writing Retreat July 30-August 3, Madeline Island School of the Arts, Lake Superior Five days of workshop, personal coaching, and plenty of time to work on your book in our great community of book writers at all stages, working in all genres, on gorgeous Madeline Island off the coast of northern Wisconsin. This retreat will become a highlight of your summer. Great meals and lodging on campus. $775. Click here for details.

Independent Study for Book Writers July 30-August 3, Madeline Island School of the Arts, Lake Superior Craving time, quiet, and a wonderful space to finally get working (or finishing) your book? But enough support each day, plus community, to do it sanely and safely? Five days of personal coaching, plenty of time to write, and optional workshops to attend make this independent study week productive, creative bliss. Great meals and lodging on campus. $775. Click here for details.

A Little about Me . . .

Mary Carroll Moore is an award-winning, internationally published author of thirteen books in three genres, writing teacher, editor and book doctor for publishing houses. For thirty years she's helped thousands of new and experienced writers plan, write, and develop--and publish!--their books. Photo by Bruce Fuller Photography.

Free Weekly Writing Exercise

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If you believe you have a book inside you just waiting to come out, here is a guide that will ensure your book’s arrival in the world. In clear, accessible prose, Mary Carroll Moore leads the aspiring author through every step of the challenging, rewarding process of developing and completing a full-length book.

--Rebecca McClanahan, author of Word Painting

Encouraging Words--Well-Known Writers with Large Number of Rejections--But Published!

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo--397 rejections (and it became a movie)A Wrinkle in Timeby Madeleine L'Engle--97 rejections (and it won the Newbery Medal for best children's book of 1963; it's now in its 69th printing)Cinder Edna by Ellen Jackson--40 rejections (and it has won multiple awards and sold 150,000 hard copies). Judy Blume says she received "nothing but rejections" for 2 years.Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot--17 rejectionsHarry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling--rejected by 9 publishersThe Diary of Anne Frank--16 rejections (and now more than 30 million copies are in print)Dr. Seuss books--more than 15 rejectionsJonathan Livingston Seagullby Richard Bach--140 rejectionsGone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell--38 rejectionsWatership Down by Richard Adams--26 rejectionsDune by Frank Herbert--nearly 20 rejections

To all book writers: Believe in your story. Keep trying. The right home for your book is out there, waiting for you to discover it.

Want to get the creative brain going?

Book writers (and any writers) need to know how to engage the creative right brain that "writes" in images. Think of any wonderful book that's left you swimming in a setting or characters--the writer has successfully used the image-creating part of the brain. But our normal workaday lives short-circuit this part. Check out this cool video of Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist at Harvard Medical School, recounting her personal experience of a left-brain stroke and her awakening to right-brain reality. Pretty amazing fusion of brain science with what it feels like to a brain scientist having a stroke:http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229

Flying Squirrels Bring Creative Jolt to Novelist

Flying squirrel gets into house--disrupts routine, gets novelist thinking differently. This happened to me! For two days, as I chased the squirrel (actually, it was all night since they are nocturnal), I slept very little. And got many new ideas for my novel-in-progress.Go figure!Maybe...book writers need creative jolts? Routine dulls our imaginations? How has an unexpected interruption actually been a gift for your creativity this week?

At the Loft Literary Center, I can always tell which students in my classes have taken Mary Carroll Moore’s class on book-writing. They talk about writing their book in "islands" and using storyboards to figure out how those sections relate to each other. When another student confesses to feeling overwhelmed by the material her memoir might include, they readily advise, “You should try Mary Carroll Moore’s method.” I second that.--Cheri Register, author of Packinghouse Daughter and American Book Award winner

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